Wife of Va. minister dead after Lake Gaston home invasion

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LITTLETON, N.C. — A Virginia minister’s wife died Friday after she was kidnapped, robbed, and then later tied up with her husband and left in a burning house, according to CBS News 6 affiliate WNCN.

The deadly crime scene was discovered when firefighters arrived in the Littleton neighborhood, just south of the Virginia border.

The day of terror began, authorities told WNCN, around 9 a.m. when Nancy Alford and her husband John Alford arrived home to two masked intruders.

One intruder stayed with the husband and one drove Nancy to the bank and forced her to withdraw about $1,000 from an ATM, Warren County Sheriff Johnnie Williams said. Once the suspect returned with Nancy, WNCN reported that intruders beat up her husband, tied them up, and set the house on fire.

John escaped and was airlifted to the hospital for treatment, where he remains in serious condition.

Police said the family’s car, a gray 2010 Mercedes, was stolen.

WNCN reported that police have not released suspect descriptions, and that the State Bureau of Investigation and the State Highway Patrol are assisting in the investigation. The sheriff said only that the suspects are believed to be two black males, but they both had their faces covered during the crime.

Neither Sheriff Williams nor NC Highway Patrol responded to requests for information at time of publishing.

John is a minister at Sanford Memorial Baptist Church in Brodnax, Va. The church posted on social media that they will have a song and prayer service instead of a regular church service, at 11 a.m., March 11.